Brandon Moreno wants to "take everything" from Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 256
Following his massive first-round TKO victory over Brandon Royval at UFC 255, Brandon Moreno was surprised to find out that he had been booked to challenge Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 256.
Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo will battle for the flyweight strap in the headliner of this Saturday's UFC 256 pay-per-view, set to take place inside the promotion's Apex facility in Laws Vegas.
Both Figueiredo and Moreno competed at last month's UFC 255. Their fight at UFC 256 will be the fastest turnaround for a champion and challenger in UFC history, with just three weeks between bouts.
Speaking on MMA Fighting's What the Heck show, Brandon Moreno revealed how, in the immediate aftermath of UFC 255, he learned that he'd be fighting for the title in three weeks.
Brandon Moreno revealed that he was looking to let his hair down and treat himself to some delicious food following the fight against Royval before he got the big news. Moreno claims that he came out of his last fight unscathed and is absolutely ready for a title shot this weekend.
“We went to the house of my manager to eat something, and in that moment is when my manager is calling Mick Maynard. I was eating a burger from Shake Shack. It was crazy. It was amazing. When I got the date, I was counting on my fingers and was like, ‘Man, it’s three weeks from here.’ I talked with my head coach and he said, ‘You are ready. You don’t have any injuries, here is the opportunity of your life. Enjoy it. Just do it.’ I was ready for [a title shot] even before the fight with Royval, so let’s go.”
Brandon Moreno won't show any respect to Deiveson Figueiredo inside the Octagon
Brandon Moreno tipped his hat to Figueiredo for the latter's incredible performance against Alex Perez, but claims that he won't respect the Brazilian's capabilities inside the Octagon this weekend. Moreno said that he wants to take everything from Figueiredo and put it in his own hands.
“He looks amazing, obviously,” Moreno said. “I do think—before the submission—Alex Perez was getting good punches off, but Figueiredo is really good and was able to get the submission in a really close position. He looked strong, but I don’t care. I worked so hard for this opportunity. I want to go to that fight and not respect his abilities. I respect him as an athlete, but in the moment where he and I step into the octagon, I don’t want to respect his abilities. I want to go and take everything [from him] and put it in my hands.”
At the UFC 255 post-fight press conference, Figueiredo accused Brandon Moreno of saying “a lot of bad things” about him, and said that he will be looking to knock out the title challenger come fight night.
Moreno said that he has no idea why Figueiredo is lying about him and blamed the misunderstanding on the champ's translator and manager, Wallid Ismail.
“He’s lying. It’s weird, and I understand he doesn’t speak English so he needs Wallid. I think everybody knows that Wallid put more words in for Figueiredo."
Brandon Moreno said that Figueiredo might have been irked due to the fact that he said the champ's celebration after defeating Joseph Benavidez was "disrespectful."
“Maybe it’s because after he beat Benavidez for the first time, I said I didn’t like it because he was disrespectful because he didn’t make weight and started to celebrate very badly in the face of Joe. I said that, but that’s it.”
Brandon Moreno is undefeated in his last four fights inside the Octagon and has a career record of 18-5-1. Moreno will be heading into the biggest fight of his career when he takes on Deiveson Figueiredo, and only time will tell if he can cut short the latter's championship reign this weekend at UFC 256.